Hostage
by greyslostwho
Summary: When Booth leaves to protect Brennan, she is secretly devastated. But when she is taken hostage and Booth comes to the rescue, will he have to make a terrible choice? BB. My first Bones fic, so please R&R!
1. Bad Dreams

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**Bad Dreams**

She opened her eyes, and it took her a while to adjust to the darkness. Something was wrong, she knew that. But she couldn't work out what. Looking around, everything seemed to be in place. Her window was closed, her door pushed right to, her curtains drawn three quarters, but a beam of moonlight shining on her face. Everything was how she wanted it to be, how she needed it to be. Her bedcovers were still tucked around her, and the tall glass of water stood exactly on the bedside table. Her electric alarm clock read 2:30. She squeezed her eyes shut again, telling herself she was being stupid. She was ashamed. She hadn't done this for a long time. Woken up and shivered with fear at thoughts, childish thoughts, of abduction, murder and loss.

Ever since she was fifteen years old, Dr Temperance Brennan had woken up like this, terrified and unable to get back to sleep. Fear of being alone. Ever since her parents went missing. So she squeezed her eyes shut even further and concentrated on breathing slowly, falling into the rhythm of sleep.

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Special Agent Seeley Booth tossed and turned, trying as hard as he could to sleep soundly. He was a grown man; he shouldn't have nightmares that kept him awake at some unearthly hour of the morning. But there was always the one dream. It had started after a case he had worked on, in his first year with the FBI, where a man had been forced to commit gruesome political murders by a terrorist group who had hold of his wife and two kids. The man had killed 34 people before Booth caught him, and then he had been with the agents, leading them the terrorist den, and when Booth and the other FBI agents had sprung the joint, the man had got a glimpse of his wife and sons. They were strung up by their necks, and anthropology later discovered that they had been that way for three months. Everything the man had done had been for nothing, because his family were dead anyway. He went mad and killed himself in prison.

But since the day he had seen those bodies strung up, he had never stopped seeing them. Except in his mind they had the faces of his parents, his friends, his cousins. Then the corpse of the little boy had the face of his son. Then, after the incident with the bomb in Bones' refrigerator and the aftermath of that incident, the woman's body always had the striking face of Temperance Brennan. He shut his eyes. There was nothing he could do after these dreams but lay there and wait for the terror to pass.

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Booth walked into the Jeffersonian that morning looking a little the worse for wear and with huge bags under his eyes. He walked through into the area where Bones and the team worked, only to be greeted by a grim faced Hodgson comforting a sobbing Angela, and a very pale Zack.

"What is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes in a furious attempt to remain awake. "Where's Bones?"

"I dunno." Zack said, and swallowed. All of them turned to Booth and looked at him as if he was some sort of ghost.

"Guys, I did not just come back from the dead or something. What the hell is going on?"

"We got a phone call about half an hour ago. I took it. It was a guy, asking for Dr Brennan or you. I said neither of you were in at the moment, so he told... he told me to 'listen up and listen carefully'. He said that you, Agent Booth, have something he wants, and you know what it is. He said that he would hurt everyone you care about until you give it to him, and he knows... he knows where you are and he is following you." Angela finished, sobbing harder. Hodgson wrapped his arms around her.

Booth's heart felt like it was falling from the top of the Empire State Building. "I know the guy. He's been after some FBI intelligence that I have. And some files I am in possession of that condemn his terrorist organisation. He's ruthless, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants." he sunk into Brennan's chair at her desk, "I don't have any evidence to convict him, so nothing can be done about that. All I have is about his organisation, and what I know about some of the other people from it that we've put in jail over the years. But he's the most evil person I've ever met. I'll have to go into hiding, I'll have to... Oh God, what if he knows about Parker?"

Angela dried her eyes and put a hand on Booth's arm. There was such a look of blank horror on her face that Booth felt his heart skip a beat. "He said, 'Temperance Brennan had better watch her back.'"

Booth sat up. It wasn't like Bones to be late for work. "Where the hell is she?"

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Brennan woke up late. It was gone half seven. Sighing, she showered and dressed as quickly as possible and was driving to the Jeffersonian as fast as she could. She hated being late for work. She noticed Booth's car in the car park and smiled. She would never admit it to herself, but days with Booth were substantially better than days without. She zapped the lock of her car and walked into the building. Immediately Angela jumped on her and hugged her. Brennan stood there, passive, bewildered, and then held Angela out at arms length.

"What the…?" she began.

"I thought you were abducted, sweetie. We're all going mad here. Especially Booth!"

Brennan's short temper that morning had already been worn thin. "What the hell are you talking about, Ange?"

And Angela just took her by the arm and manoeuvred her into her office, where Booth was sat in her chair behind her desk.

"What the hell are you doing?" she screeched at him. She hated people sitting at her desk. Booth looked up and a wide but troubled smile spread over his face, and he leapt out of her chair like it was burning him. Angela backed out.

"Booth?" she asked, seeing the sadness that had appeared on his face. And he told her what he had told the others, and then that the man he was chasing, Giorgio Stephanski, had threatened all the people Booth cared about. She just absorbed the information and then walked round and sunk into her chair, looking distastefully at him.

"Did no one think to ring me?" she asked, with a hint of boredom in her voice. Booth nodded. "I was just calling you when you came through the door. Can I sit down, Bones? I need to talk to you."

She looked at him strangely. "Sure."

He seated himself on the couch and leant forward onto his knees. "Stephanski will stop at nothing to get to me, and to get those records off me, Bones. He said himself that he's going to go for people close to me. And he mentioned you in the phone call."

"But..." she blushed a little, remembering what he had said: Everyone Booth cared about. "I'm just your colleague."

Did she dream his bittersweet smile? Did she imagine the sad way he looked down at his hands? He looked at her. "Well, it doesn't matter what you class yourself as. He's still after you. I have to get out of this state for a while. That way Stephanski and his henchmen will follow me to wherever I go, and they'll be off of yours and Parker's backs."

She was stunned. Booth was one of those people you just always expected to keep turning up like a bad egg. You never expected them to leave. Booth, Angela and the other squints, as she had come to think of them as, were pretty much the only human constants in her life. She turned away so he couldn't see the sigh. Then she looked back at him, and he noticed for the first time anger in her eyes.

"So you're just going to run away then? Why can't you just do your FBI thing, or whatever?"

His heart sunk, and he looked at her. "This isn't about me, Brennan. This is about my son, and about you…"

"It's nothing to do with me!" she shouted, "I'm not asking you to go anywhere!"

"He threatened you!" Booth shot back, trying to ignore the fact that his eyes were stinging. "I can't let anything happen to anyone because of me. That's why I'm leaving."

"But… can't you just pull him up on threatening charges?" Brennan's voice has lowered and she looked pale.

"If I do, he'll get bail. And he'll send one of his men to kill me, or… someone I care about. Someone, anyone, connected to me." He sighed and leant on her desk. "If something happened to you or Parker, I would go mad."

She blushed and looked down at her lap. For a moment awkward silence reigned. Then Booth reached across and took one of her hands.

"I'll be on my guard and I'll wait. And when he makes a move I'll get him down for terrorism and murder and all the crimes he's already committed, via the federal government."

"But what if he tries to kill you?"

"Bones, he **will **try to kill me. Without a shadow of a doubt. But I'll be on my guard."

"You can't be on your guard all the time, Booth. What about when you're sleeping?"

He smiled an invisible half smile. Was that concern in her expression?

"Bones, I'll be fine. I can look after myself. I'm a big boy now."

"Sure." she laughed uneasily, still gripping his hand as if trying to suffocate it. "OK."

"I won't get myself killed, Bones."

She smiled and looked down at her hand in his. "Promise?" she whispered.

He hooked a hand under her chin and lifted it up. "Promise." He said. She smiled and then blinked furiously.

Then she shook herself. This wasn't like her at all. He was just a colleague, just a friend. Just Booth. The trouble was she didn't know what 'just Booth' meant anymore. She slid her hand out of his and smiled falsely.

"See you, then." She muttered, and her voice was dry and croaky.

"Bye, Tempe." He whispered, and stood up. He walked towards the door and had almost escaped unscathed when she called his name.

"Booth." He spun round and looked at her, and for both their sakes he said nothing about her red eyes.

"Yes?"

"What if he never makes a move? How long will you stay away?"

"He will. And I have to stay until he does."

"But that could take years."

He nodded, wishing she hadn't brought this up. It would be easier just to disappear.

"Look… Bones… if nothing has happened in a year, I'll call you."

Her eyes popped at the words 'a year'. "No. Sooner." She said stubbornly.

"Six months, then." He said, "That's my final offer. He could track my phones."

She looked like she was about to argue, but then she stopped herself. "OK. Can I have the number of the place you're going to, so I can call you if I have a problem?"

He shook his head. "I'll be travelling. If you have a problem, call the number I've had up to now. My replacement in this states feds will help you. He's a good guy. Warren Baker."

She nodded, and Booth took a step back. "Right then." He said, "Bye."

"I don't want you to go." She whispered, so low he could hardly hear. He couldn't even be sure that that was what she said.

"Dammit, Tempe." He said, and rushed over to her desk, taking her face in his hands and pulling it to his so their lips brushed. "Goodbye." He said, and walked out without another word.

Dr Temperance Brennan was left, sat at her desk, alone in her office, one hand on her lips, trying to gauge whether what had just happened was a dream.

**This is my first Bones fanfic, so tell me what you think. It may be shockingly bad, in which case I will not continue it. If you like it, I will.**

**xgreyslostwhox**


	2. Alone

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**Alone**

Angela frowned as she peered through the glass of Brennan's office. Her friend was sat at her desk with her head in her hands. Again. For the past three months Angela had noticed that her friend had not been herself. She had called in sick from work twice, and she spent a lot of time at work staring into space or sitting in her office alone when before she would have been out looking for that last clue or interviewing someone just one more time. Angela knew why. Brennan missed Booth. Of course she did. It was obvious to everyone except the pair of them that they both had feelings for one another and they got on really well – but both of them had lived in denial. Booth had had girlfriends and Brennan had had a few… Sully, anyway, and they had both carried on with the 'just friends' approach.

Brennan looked up and the masked smile she had been wearing ever since the day Booth left covered the sadness in her face. Angela smiled back sympathetically. She hoped Booth would come back soon. She hoped they would here some news that he was ok. He could be lying dead in an alley somewhere and they wouldn't know anything about it. They wouldn't have the slightest clue if Stephanski had got to him or not. Brennan had explained the situation to all the others, and although they understood the Booth had done what he had to, Angela couldn't imagine Brennan just letting him go. But every time she tried to talk to her friend about it Brennan rapidly changed the subject.

Angela sighed, and went home.

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Dr Temperance Brennan laid her head back on her pillows and desperately tried to sleep. She needed some sleep. The thing was, however, that she couldn't remember the last time she had been able to sleep through the night without waking up sweating from some nightmare that usually involved Seeley Booth lying face down on the ground, blood spreading across his shirt. And she hated herself for it. She was a sensible adult, and a scientist. Nightmares really didn't fit in with the Dr Brennan she had become. Gradually she drifted into fitful sleep.

She was awoken by a hand over her mouth. Her eyes sprung open and she found herself looking into the face of a tall, bald man, who looked remarkably like a caricature of a thug. She went to scream but his hand clamped down harder, until she could barely breathe. She dug her teeth into his hand, but he pulled her roughly out of her bed and then whipped a gun out of his pocket.

"Do as I say or I'll shoot. No questions asked." He said, and took the safety catch off the gun. Brennan shivered, bringing her arms around herself to keep a little warmer. She was only wearing a big old T shirt and some shorts.

"Get some clothes out of the wardrobe and put them on." He said, and she noticed a distinct Russian accent. She pulled out some jeans and a shirt from her closet.

"I'm not changing with you in here." She said. His eyes narrowed as he looked at her. Then he turned to face the wall, standing by the door.

"You have 30 seconds." He said, and began to count under his breath. She pulled on clean underwear and the clothes she had got out, shaking with fear all the while. The man turned round just as she was buttoning up the shirt. He leered at her, and she lowered her eyes.

"What do you want from me?" she said, and he took her arm and began to pull her down the stairs, clutching her harder than was necessary, so she could feel the bruising almost as it occurred.

He said nothing, just threw her out of her own front door and into the back of a van, where he tied her hands and her feet together, so she couldn't struggle. Then he slammed the back doors on her and climbed into the front of the van, which he started to drive.

"What do you want from me?" she said.

"I do not know." The man said curtly. "I work for the boss."

"The boss? Who the hell is that?"

She watched the man grin in the mirror. He had three teeth missing. "Let's just say – a friend of one of yours."

She felt a shiver up her spine as she understood. This was one of Stephanski's men, after her because of Booth. Her first thought was for him.

"Have you got Booth? Is he still alive?"

The man laughed. "They told me you were clever, Dr… Brennan. It took you a while to work it out. Now be quiet until we get there, or I'll put your lights out."

She didn't say another word. She could feel cramp in her feet where they were tied so awkwardly, and the strain across her back where her hands were tied behind. She couldn't move to make herself more comfortable. And the man hadn't told her anything about Booth. What if they'd killed him? A tear rolled down her cheek, and it wasn't the first she had shed these past months. But it was the first she couldn't wipe away, and therefore couldn't deny.

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When Brennan woke up, she was being bundled out of the car by her captor. The sky was a bit brighter now, and it was some time in the early morning. Then she felt a sack over her head and she couldn't see where she was going. She was shoved and thrown around, and she stumbled over steps and through doorways. Then her legs were kicked out from underneath her and she was knocked to the floor. The bag was tugged off of her head.

She was in a dirty, barely furnished room with two high windows, sat opposite a tall man with dark hair and pale, watery eyes. Stephanski. He looked down a long, pointy nose at her and smiled.

"Dr Brennan. So kind of you to join us."

"Where's Booth? What have you done to him?" she spat.

Stephanski laughed. "Nothing. Yet. Your friend Seeley Booth thought that by running away to Massachusetts he could protect all the people he loves. But he was wrong. Now we have you and he's hundreds of miles away, unaware of your… misfortune."

"Then why do you need me?" she asked.

"So that in a while we contact your friend with the worst news he's heard in a while. And then he comes down here, playing the hero and all that – he gives us the file we need and then we kill him."

"He'll never give it to you."

Again, the man chuckled. "He might, if we put a knife at his precious Temperance's throat. He might have a change of heart then."

"I'll…I'll tell him not to." Brennan said, her voice sounding stronger than she felt. Suddenly Stephanski's eyes filled with rage and he struck her across the face, bringing stinging tears to her eyes and knocking the fight out of her.

"Now, you will stay quiet whilst we wait for my other operation to be completed, and then we shall discuss the small matter of Seeley Booth. If you make so much as a sound, Booth will be here to find only a body."

Brennan lowered her eyes, trying to hide her fear.


	3. Parker

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**Parker**

After about twenty minutes of staring at the floor and waiting to see what would happen to her next, the doors to the room opened and another thug came in, carrying a bundle in his arms about the size of a human child.

"I had to sedate him, sir. He wouldn't come quietly."

"Very well. Put him beside the woman."

The sacking was pulled off to reveal a little boy of about five years old with blonde hair. He looked like he was sleeping. Brennan's heart sunk. Parker. Any hope she had had of Booth not coming, all guns blazing, was now gone. How dare they take a little child from his bed, a child who had done nothing wrong?

Stephanski looked at her. "You'll be needing to look after the brat until his father gets here."

Brennan looked him in the eye, which seemed to disconcert him a little bit. "Cut my hands free." She said. "And my feet. I won't try to run. There's nowhere to run to. Just cut me loose and let me look after Parker."

There was a horrific silence. Then Stephanski laughed. "Cut her loose, Boris." He said, and one of the thugs cut the ropes around her ankles and wrists and tossed her bonds to one side. She ran her hands around her free wrists and ankles, and then gathered Parker in her arms. She didn't know anything about looking after children. She just held onto the little boy. He was Booth's son. She would make sure nothing happened to him. If it did it would break Booth. So she would make sure it didn't.

Boris and the other thug lifted her onto her feet and she was thrown into a small room off of the main room. The door slammed behind her. Her head hit the ground and she blacked out.

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When she came around, she was being shaken by one of the thugs. Parker lay on a little bed in the corner of the room, still tied. She guessed they had sedated him again. She was being thrown through the door and back in front of Stephanski again. He looked down at her.

"My men tell me you fainted, Dr Brennan."

She said nothing, just stared at him indignantly. Then he handed her a cell phone with a dialled number already on the screen.

"Call it." He said. "And say hello to Special Agent Seeley Booth."

Fingers trembling, Brennan pressed the call button. She counted eleven rings before he picked up.

"Sanchez." A voice said into the phone, but she instantly recognised it as Booth's.

"It's me." They were the only words she could summon up. He responded. "Bones, how did you get my number?

"Look, Booth…"

Stephanski grabbed the phone from her. "Hello. I think you know who this is."

Brennan could no longer hear what Booth was saying. But she heard Stephanski all right.

"We have Dr Brennan. No one knows she is missing. And we have your son. And if you don't come and get them I will kill them. And then I will come after you and kill you too, and then I will get those documents… I'm not lying. Your little anthropologist friend will tell you."

He thrust the phone back at Brennan. "Tell him we have his son." He mouthed at her. She took the phone.

"Booth, they have Parker. He's sedated…"

"IF THEY'VE HARMED A HAIR ON EITHER OF YOUR HEADS I WILL PERSONALLY…" he bellowed.

"Please, Booth. Calm down. I'm taking care of Parker. I'll look after him. I'll make sure he's ok. They haven't hurt him. I won't let them."

She could hear Stephanski chuckling, but she ignored it and listened hard to Booth.

"Are you all right, Bones?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

"I'm gonna get you out of there. I promise. I don't care if I give him the freaking papers. I'm gonna get you and Parker out of there."

"They'll kill you if you come here, Booth."

"They'll kill you if I don't. Are you sure they didn't hurt you?"

"Sure, Booth. Look…"

"Don't tell me not to come, Bones. I'm coming whatever you say. I'll get the next flight to Washington I can. Can he give me directions how to get to you?"

"I guess. Bye, Booth."

"Tell Parker I love him."

"Will do. Don't let them kill you."

"Tempe?"

"Yes?" Brennan asked, her heart racing listening to his voice, in so much anger and pain.

"I love you, too."

"Seeley…" she began, not knowing how she was going to end the sentence. But Stephanski snatched the phone away from her and spoke harshly down it.

"We're in Staunton. Know it?... Brilliant… yes. Fairchild House…. Right. If you're not here within twenty four hours, Booth, I will kill them. The woman first, and make the child watch…. I don't think you are in a position to threaten me, Booth. I'll be seeing you later!"

He pressed the 'end call' button and Brennan sat there staring as he tossed the phone to one of the thugs. She didn't move to fight back when they bundled her back into the room with Parker and shut the door.

He didn't mean it, she told herself. He was just trying to make her feel better. He was overwhelmed by the situation. He didn't want her to feel like he wanted to get Parker more than her. But he did really. He didn't really love her. They were just friends, anyway. It was fine. She would just pretend he never said it. He would do the same.

If one of them didn't get killed first.

She turned to Parker. The little boy was sat, wide eyed and staring, fear apparent in his face, definitely awake.


	4. Bedtime Stories

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**Bedtime stories**

"It's ok, Parker." She said gently, and limped over to sit on the bed beside him. He shuddered a little but he didn't shy away from her.

"Dr Bones. You work with my daddy." He said. Brennan sighed and nodded.

"He loves you very much, Parker. More than the whole world." Her words reminded her of the other person Booth had said he loved.

"Is he here?" A glimmer of hope flashed in the child's eyes. Hope she had to dash.

"No. I'm sorry." She fought with herself over whether to tell him that Booth was coming. It would make Parker feel better, and it would scare some of the fear away. But if – and this didn't bear thinking about – Booth didn't make it, she would have given the child false hope. Hope won out. "He's coming to save us, Parker."

The little boy smiled and his face seemed to light up. Though he obviously had the fair hair of his mother, there was something very… Booth… about his eyes. Something that made her feel a tiny bit better.

"What happened to me?" he lisped, taking her hand and holding it tightly.

"Some bad men have got us. But your daddy is coming to take us home."

"He's going to kill the bad men?"

Brennan chuckled lightly, "Maybe." _Hopefully, _she thought. "Maybe he'll just put them in prison forever."

"Good." Parker said, and for a moment there was a silence.

"Does my Mommy know where I am?"

Brennan honestly didn't know the answer to that one. "I don't know. But your daddy definitely does. I spoke to him on the phone."

"Can I speak to him?"

"Not now. He's on a plane coming to get us."

"Will he be here soon?"

"In the morning, I think. When we wake up he'll probably be here."

Parker's bottom lip quivered. "So I have to go to sleep all by myself?"

"Don't worry, honey." Brennan said, and put her arm awkwardly around the little boy, "I'll be here. I promise."

He reached up and kissed her cheek, in a gesture that said her pulse racing and brought tears, stinging and unwelcome, into her eyes. "Thank you." He said, and fixed his thumb in his mouth and sucked it.

She taught Parker how to play noughts and crosses in the dust on the floor. Then he was contented to draw pictures and she sat by the window, staring out through the bars to the bleak landscape that was the scrubland. She knew where she was now, she knew Fairchild House, the decrepit and deserted place just outside the suburbs of Staunton. No one ever went there, the place was a mess and the estate nearby was one of the roughest she knew. She had no hope of someone else finding her before Booth came in, like a kamikaze, headed for his death.

She knew she ought to have more faith in him. He could fight well. She'd seen him box, he was brilliant. And it took a lot to knock him down. She remembered him escaping from the hospital to rescue her before. She'd been almost out of hope then, when a staggering Booth clutching his injuries had run over to her and slid his neck through tied arms, lifting her down and letting her cling to him, sobbing. She remembered his words. _It's ok, it's over now. It's ok. _She wiped a tear away, and then gave up. They made tracks down her face as she sat, staring blankly, hearing only Parker's slight humming in the background. She wished she was as young and innocent as he was. There was no doubt in his mind that his Daddy would be there to rescue him in the morning. No doubt at all. He needed no fear anymore. He trusted his father entirely.

She trusted him, she did. She just hoped he would calm himself, and see sense enough not to come alone. To come with more of his feds, police, the army, anything. Just enough to ensure that he wasn't killed. But he hadn't seemed calm on the phone. And she knew him well. She knew that he probably wouldn't see sense, and he wouldn't come prepared. He would march in and he would probably be shot down within seconds. And it was partly her fault. She should have refused to speak to him on the phone or something; she should have tried harder to fight off the thug when he came to kidnap her. Though she knew in her heart that they would still have got Parker and Booth would still be on his way, she needed someone to blame. And that someone was herself.

Over half way through the day, one of the thugs brought in two slices of bread and two glasses of water. Brennan ate hers hungrily and she sat with Parker whilst he ate his, the whole while an expression of disgust on his face and the slightly stale bread without any butter. When they had finished, Parker screwed up some of the napkins the bread had been wrapped in and made a little ball which he threw up and down in the air. He was so like his father. Brennan sat, passive and cold, staring out of the window and longing for the time to pass more slowly, so that the time when they would kill Booth would stay far away.

She still sat silently when darkness began to creep in through the window. She caught Parker yawning and decided it was time for the little boy to sleep. She had promised Booth that she would take care of him.

"Parker, it's time for bed now." She said, and the little boy looked for a minute like he was going to argue. But children are receptive to adult emotions, and he read the hurt and pain in her face and decided to agree.

As she tucked him into the bed, and sat down on the end of it, he asked her a question. "What's your real name?" he whispered.

"Temperance." She said, "Temperance Brennan."

Parker's eyes lit up. "My daddy told me a story about a princess called that once."

Brennan bit her lip. "He did?"

"Yeah. She lived in a tall tower and she was very beautiful. Princes came and wanted to marry her, but she kept her heart locked away and no one could find the key. She was really clever and she used to help the king and all the other people investigate things. And one day she started to work with a soldier. At first they didn't even like each other. But then the soldier fell in love with her, but he pretended he didn't. He saved her from dragons and bad men and monsters, but he never knew if she loved him too. Princes tried to marry her, but she always got rid of them. Sometimes she would give the soldier a hug, but she never told him she loved him too."

_Oh my God, Booth, _Brennan thought, and smiled through wet eyes at Parker, "What happened next?"

"That's what I asked Daddy. He said he didn't know, and if I ever found it out I should tell him."

For a moment she couldn't bring words to her mouth. She didn't understand the way she was feeling. Everything was catching up with her now, the kiss, the 'I love you' and now the story. _Booth…_

With a jolt it hit her. She was in love with Seeley Booth. That was the feeling she had been keeping down all this time. She was in love with him. That was why he could calm her down in an instant with a hug, and why he always brought a smile to her face when she thought of him. That was how he never failed to make her feel better, and how her pulse raced whenever his skin brushed hers.

"Temperance?" Parker's little voice piped up, "Are you ok?"

"Sure. I'm fine." She said falsely, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You're crying."

She hadn't even noticed. Tears were running down her cheeks. Tears of realisation and regret and remorse were spilling out; Booth was coming to his death, and she loved him. And she would never get a chance to tell him that. Tears came easily for the first time in years.

Parker put his little arms around her and gave her a hug. "I know the end of that story." She whispered, and laid him back down. "You can tell your Daddy when he gets here. The princess had always loved the soldier, but she was too shy to let him know that. Then one day she met the soldier's little son and he told her how the soldier felt. She…"

But she could hear nothing but Parker's little snore. She snuggled down into the bed beside him and laid her dark hair on the pillow beside his fair hair. And slowly, full of love and pain and fear, she fell asleep.


	5. Attack

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**Attack**

There was dim half light when Brennan awoke. She heaved herself off the bed straight away, the sinking feeling in her stomach growing as she wondered where Booth was. He could come at any time now. Parker moaned in his sleep and rolled over, reaching out for her. She smiled weakly and put her hand in his. That seemed to calm him down and he woke up slowly, smiling with anticipation.

"Is Daddy here yet?"

"Not yet, Parker." She didn't know what else to say. She was counting the seconds, counting the minutes.

That was when they heard the first shot. Parker covered his ears and leapt into her arms. Her heart was thudding. She could hear thumps and bangs and smashes, but as yet, no more shots. She held the little boy as close to her as she could.

"Dr Bones?"

"Yes?"

"Is that Daddy?"

"I think so."

She took comfort in that fact that she could still hear fighting. That meant that Booth hadn't been defeated yet. She set Parker down and tried, in vain, to open the door, banging her fists on it.

"Booth, we're in here! We're in here!"

But the fighting noises continued and didn't come any closer. Parker was crying.

"Is Daddy getting hurt?" he whispered. She wanted to be able to say something to make the little boy feel better. But there was nothing she could do.

"I don't know." She whispered, and squeezed her eyes shut. They sat in silence, broken by the noises from outside.

And then there was a shot. And silence. Brennan had hold of Parker's hand so tightly it probably hurt. But she couldn't hear anything anymore. She knew if Booth was dead in a minute the thugs would be in here, probably to kill her and Parker. But if Booth was dead that wouldn't matter. She wouldn't want to be alive without him, she realised. Her death would only be too long in coming. Both Parker and Brennan closed their eyes and kept them tightly shut. And then she heard a key in the door. Slowly, she opened them, keeping her arms around Parker, preparing for the worst.

A woman stood there, of about forty five. She was wearing the official uniform of the armed FBI. She was smiling at them.

"Parker Booth and Dr Brennan?" she asked, questioningly. Brennan nodded. She wanted to ask where Booth was so badly, but no words would come out of her mouth. She handed the little boy to the woman, and stood up on shaky legs. Then she limped out after them.

The sight she saw filled her with warmth. Parker had flung himself into Booth's arms, and Booth was there, holding his son, clutching a bullet wound in his arm but very much alive. Stephanski's body lay out on the floor beside him, shot once in the head. The thugs had disappeared, presumably taken by the FBI.

And then Booth looked up, and saw Brennan.

She stumbled towards him, unsteady on her two feet, her back aching and her head pounding. Finally, the beatings she'd received from Stephanski's men had caught up with her.

"Parker, Mommy's waiting for you outside." Booth said, and the little boy ran out of the door, towards his mother. Booth stood up to full height. He was pale, and there was blood soaking through his shirt on his left shoulder. He was clutching this wound and she could tell he was in pain. She walked up to him, and then the tears fell. He staggered towards her, and then her arms were around his neck, like that time he'd rescued her before, and she was sobbing into his shoulder. His good arm wrapped so tightly around her waist she had to fight to breathe, but she didn't care. For the first time in months, she felt completely content.

Neither of them wanted to speak, to break the beautiful silence that stretched between them. Brennan gripped at his shirt, at his hair as tightly as she could, reassuring herself that he was still alive. Booth breathed in the fading smell of her shampoo, not able to accept how close he had come to losing her.

"Did they hurt you?" he asked gently, and Brennan's eyes overflowed again. She couldn't seem to stop the never ending flow of tears.

"Not badly." She whispered back, almost unable to find her voice. She leant back a little, so their faces were close.

"Thank you." He said thickly, and she could see the tears forming in his own eyes. "For not letting Parker get scared."

"He was great." She said softly.

"I know you think I was stupid, coming."

She laughed bitterly. "Yeah, but I'm glad you did."

Booth seemed overcome by a rush of emotion and against he pressed his face into her hair. "I thought they would kill you before I got here." He said, and she didn't know what to say to that, so she cupped his face in her hands.

"Did you mean it, Booth?"

He didn't need her to elaborate. He knew what she meant.

"Of course I did." He murmured, watching nothing but her eyes for signs of approval.

"You didn't just say it because you thought I was going to die?"

"No! I always have."

She felt something fall away inside of her. There was probably an anthropological explanation for that, but right now she couldn't think what the hell it was, or care. Stroking her palm over his cheek, she lifted her lips to his.

The contact was alien at first, and Brennan found herself shaking from the intensity of the moment. His mouth moved slowly over hers and she could feel his lips tugging into a smile. She could feel, like something too wonderful to put into words, his good hand sliding into her hair, holding her head to his, and she let her lips part, completely surrendering herself to him. Seconds passed, and then minutes, but Brennan didn't have a clue. The only things in her brain at that time were Booth and how _right _his lips felt touching hers. She smiled, and slowly pulled away, lips lingering as long as they could on his.

She couldn't look away from his eyes to see, but she could tell he was smiling. And she could feel her grin widening too, until she was smiling like an idiot, her arms around her partner, both of them bruised and battered, but both of them alive. She kissed his mouth gently, tiny little baby kisses on his lips, feeling his pulse rushing where her hands were holding his neck. Then she tilted her forehead into his and closed her eyes tightly shut.

"Bones…" he whispered, but she silenced him with another kiss, one that seemed never to end. They were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

She looked up to see the FBI woman looking at them in mild amusement, some sort of cross between disgust and relief.

"Dr Brennan, Agent Booth, you'll be needing to go to the hospital to get checked out, make sure none of your injuries are serious." She said, trying not to laugh at the two of them, entwined in each other like a pair of teenagers.

"Right." Booth said, and Brennan noticed that his voice sounded pained and his breathing was laboured, and suddenly he was putting much more weight on her. She looked at him.

"Booth, are you ok?"

He put his other hand onto her shoulder, as if fighting to stand up, and left a big bloody handprint on her shirt. Then he slid down, still clutching at her hand, and collapsed onto the floor.

She struggled to hold him up, but she was bruised and injured and her strength had nearly gone.

"Help!" she shouted to the back of the retreating FBI agent, and the woman rushed towards them. Brennan watched in horror as she checked Booth's pulse, laid him in the recovery position, and shouted into her walkie talkie, "Paramedics, inside, now! Agent Booth's gone into cardiac arrest… yes… I think it's a bullet wound… he's bleeding out from the shoulder…"

And then she launched into CPR on him. Brennan just stood there, her shoulders shaking with silent sobs, unable to move.


	6. On The Edge

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**On The Edge**

Her memories of those few hours are hazy. She remembers being led into a FBI car that was following the ambulance to the hospital. She wasn't sure whether the CPR had worked or not. She couldn't stop herself from shaking. He couldn't be dying! She could still taste his lips, for crying out loud! She could still feel his arm around her waist still. She could feel the warmth of his body pressed up against hers. She could hear his voice, murmuring her name. She wanted to curl up somewhere beside him, somehow breathe some of her life into him. She didn't know where they had taken him, she was sat in a waiting room in a hospital with the FBI woman, staring at her clasped hands and praying to a God she didn't believe in that he would be ok. She almost felt a smile tease her lips. Temperance Brennan, praying. She had definitely changed.

"Are you alright, Dr Brennan?" The FBI agent asked her, "I'm going to get a coffee. Do you want something?"

Brennan looked up at the woman, and noticed for the first time that she looked just as anxious and worried as she was. She tried to manage a smile.

"No thanks. I'm fine." She said, though she wasn't, and it was possible she would never be fine again. Ever.

"Right." The woman said, and walked away, headed towards the little coffee shop. Brennan stared down at her hands and ran her thumb over and over her knuckles, trying to stop thinking about Booth lying somewhere in the hospital, possibly dying and she had no idea. Booth, her Booth who she had never admitted to anyone that she loved because she had thought that she had all the time in the world. She had shied away from kissing him, shied away from being with him, because she had thought that they had forever. It was only now that she was realising that the concept of forever was not a constant. The FBI agent came back and sat down beside her, clutching a large cup of coffee. For a moment neither woman said anything.

"My name is Annie Martin." She said, "I've worked with Agent Booth for years."

"Temperance Brennan." She said, although the woman already knew her name.

"He's tough, Booth is. He could still make it."

Brennan said nothing. In her mind's eye she could see him, pale and still, as she had last seen him, being put into the ambulance.

"I had a husband once." She said, not looking at Brennan anymore but somewhere into the distance. "His name was Alan. He was in the FBI too, in fact, at the time, he was my boss. One day we were out in the field, and I lost concentration for one moment. And one of the enemies we were tracking turned on us and opened fire. I got my concentration back, and started firing at them, but they were in a much better place to aim from. There was a bullet coming at me and Alan threw himself in front of it. He died later in hospital of his injuries. But before he did, he told me that he didn't mind. He told me that he knew every day that he was in a high risk situation, and that he was just happy that he'd managed to save me. And he told me that he hoped I'd learnt my lesson and would never lose my concentration again, because he hadn't saved my life so I could go and throw it away."

There were tears in the woman's eyes. Brennan reached out and put a hand over hers.

"I can't live without him." She whispered.

Annie wrapped her arms around her in a friendly hug. "Yes, you can. And if you have to, you will. Because that's what he would want. And I believe that we'll meet them again one day, anyway. The people we lost."

"I don't believe in an afterlife." Brennan said coldly. Annie said nothing. "I don't believe in God."

Still there was silence from the other woman. "Booth does." Brennan said in a tiny voice.

And then there was a doctor walking towards them, with a stony expression on his face. Brennan looked at him fearfully.

"He's awake." The doctor said, "But the bullet wound has become infected, and the bullet is still lodged in there. We need to give him surgery, and soon, because it's likely that the bullet could cause a clot to travel to the brain or heart, which would be fatal."

Brennan was shaking, clasping Annie's hand tightly.

"Which one of you is Dr Brennan?" the doctor asked.

Brennan raised her hand, unable to speak.

"He's asking for you. If you could come with me, please."

He led her through the corridors of the hospital, into a room next to an OR. Booth was laid in the bed, his face deathly pale, hooked up to various tubes and drips. But his eyes were open and he almost smiled when he saw her.

"You have five minutes." The doctor said, and then left the room.

Brennan rushed over to Booth's bed, and cupped his face in her hands. He smiled at her, and then spoke in a low, croaky voice.

"Bones, they're gonna try and operate, but it's still dangerous."

"Shhhh." She whispered, and kissed his forehead, "You're gonna be ok."

He reached two shaky arms out and gripped her by the shoulders. "Listen to me, Temperance. I need you to listen. I could die. Easily."

"No." she whispered, sinking into the bed beside him, "Don't say that."

"I have to say it, because it could happen."

"Don't." she whispered, and he wiped the tear away with his finger.

"I have to, Bones. Just listen. I love you, ok? And if I do die, I don't want you to be sad forever. I want you to be happy. I want you to find someone else, someone who loves you, someone who doesn't do such a fricking dangerous job, and someone that gets you. Someone that will explain stupid pop culture jokes to you and will just nod and agree with your logical explanations and your bloody stubbornness and your-"

She cut him off by kissing him. "There isn't anyone else, Booth. Only you."

He stroked her hair. "Don't be stupid. Of course there will be someone else. You can fall in love again, I promise you."

"I don't believe in falling in love." She said, and he said nothing, just looked into her eyes. "I guess I can't understand how I fell in love with you."

His eyes filled up with tears. "I love you." He whispered, and pressed his hand against her heart. "Please promise me you'll be happy."

"I can't." she said, "But I'll promise you I'll try."

"Thank you."

"Now you have to promise me something." She whispered, tracing his lips with her finger.

"What?"

"Don't die."

He chuckled, and then grimaced in pain. "I'll try." He whispered.

**Sorry for not updating sooner! I go back to school on Monday though, so you might have to wait a while. Please R&R!**


	7. The Hardest Part Is Waiting

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**The Hardest Part Is Waiting**

When Angela Montenegro ran full pelt into the hospital, she had no idea what she was expecting to see. She'd got one gabbled message from Booth on the phone, telling her that Brennan had been captured, but she hadn't got it until this morning. She'd been shocked, because the note that had been left on Brennan's desk had said that she had taken a day off to go to a dig. She'd been distant these past months without Booth, so Angela thought nothing of it. She often went off by herself. But the message she had got this morning sounded like Booth was in a car, telling her that Brennan had been captured and that the FBI had gone to get her. She had been on the phone to Cullen straight away, demanding to know what the hell was going on. He had told her that the case had been closed, the criminal gang killed and arrested, and Dr Brennan and the little boy rescued. He had then told her that Dr Brennan was at the hospital.

Thinking about it, she realised she probably shouldn't have hung up then. She should probably have waited and found out what had happened to her. But she had been mad, and she had just dropped the phone and ordered Hodgins to drive her straight to the hospital. She had leapt out the car whilst he went to park it, and ran straight in. And now here she was, at the desk, asking for Temperance Brennan, and not knowing what the hell had happened to her.

"Excuse me?" said a voice behind her, and she turned to see a woman in her late forties, wearing an FBI jacket and looking grim.

"What happened to them?" she spat at her, shocking the receptionist who was searching for Brennan in their database.

"I'm Annie Martin. I was part of the rescue operation this morning."

"Where's Bren?" Angela asked, her heart thudding.

"Dr Brennan – she's fine."

"Well, she's not fine if she's in the hospital, is she?"

Annie said nothing for a moment. "You really don't have a clue what happened, do you?"

Angela shook her head, eyes wide. "Is someone dead?" she asked, shaking. And then realisation hit her. "Where's Booth?"

Annie looked at the floor, unable to speak for a moment.

"Where's Booth?" Angela shouted, "Where are Booth and Brennan?"

"Dr Brennan is just through there in the surgery waiting room. Agent Booth is in surgery. He's in a critical condition."

"Is he going to be ok?" Angela whispered.

"We don't know yet. Are you Miss Montenegro?"

She nodded weakly. Booth was Booth. He couldn't die. He was like the annoying constant that never went away. The annoying constant that had gone away lately, and it had changed them all. But now the gang were gone, he could come back. And he and Brennan would flirt incessantly, dancing around their feelings. He would be back to being the annoying constant that Temperance Brennan had fallen in love with. _Fallen in love with. _God, losing Booth would break Brennan. There would be nothing anyone would ever be able to do to get through to her again. She had lost too many people. If she lost Booth too, it would be over. Angela might as well resign herself to the fact that Brennan would never find someone to love and settle down with again.

And then Annie Martin had led her through into the waiting room where Brennan was sat in a chair in the corner, curled up in a ball and her shoulders shaking with sobs. Angela stopped for a moment, wishing there was something she could do to make her friend feel better. But she knew there was nothing. The only person who could help her now was Booth. And he might not be helping anyone again.

"He was shot. He seemed fine at first, and when Dr Brennan got out they were together, bless the two of them. I could barely pull them apart to tell them that they needed to get to the hospital for the once over. And then he just collapsed in her arms, and went into cardiac arrest. He's got a bullet lodged inside him, and they're doing surgery to get it out. But if they dislodge it then it will travel to his heart and he'll die. It's risky, but he was awake a while ago, and he agreed to it. She went in and spoke to him. And since she came out she hasn't stopped crying."

Angela nodded slowly and then walked quickly over to her friend. Brennan didn't even look up as she sat down beside her. She reached out and put her hand on her friend's knee.

"Sweetie, it's me." She said gently, and Brennan raised her head enough to look at Angela and try to manage a smile. Then Angela wrapped her arms around her friend and held her whilst she sobbed.

When there were no tears left to cry, Brennan sat back in her chair and looked at the artist.

"You were right the whole time, Ange." She said quietly, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"About what?" Angela asked, puzzled.

"About me. Being in love with Booth. And Booth being in love with me."

Angela didn't have a response to that. Brennan went on, tears welling up again, but no sign of sobbing.

"He came to rescue me and Parker, even though he knew he could get killed. I didn't want him to come because I thought that it could happen. He could get killed. But when I saw him I was glad he did. And then I kissed him, Angela, and all of a sudden I wasn't me anymore. I was someone else. Someone completely different. I was someone who fell head over heels in love in a moment, someone who wants so hard it hurts. I was someone who for a second would consider getting married, having children, settling down. I was someone who had found something more important than work. And I thought that it was just because of what had happened to me, what I had been through, and it would pass. But it hasn't. Now I'm still that person, but now I'm a person who contemplates suicide, who knows that they can't live without someone else, and who knows they'll never have another chance at love. And being that person is never going to stop, Ange."

Angela said nothing. She got the feeling Brennan needed to keep talking.

"When I spoke to him just now, he told me that he wanted me to move on, to fall in love again if he died. And I said I'd try, but I was lying, Ange. Lying to a dying man! But even if I could replay that conversation, I wouldn't say any different. Booth is…" she trailed off, caught her breath, pulled herself together and continued. "I talked to Rebecca once. And she said that two people have a moment, and that's when they either have something, or they have nothing. And I think that me and Booth have had thousands of moments, I really do. When I got captured, and he came and rescued me. Kneeling there with my arms around his neck made me feel better quicker than anything else. When we were in the graveyard and he was telling me about being in the Army. When he pulled me out of the ground. When he…"

Silence. Angela looked hard into Brennan's eyes. There was despair written in them.

"He might make it, Brennan. You have to keep hoping. You can't give up on him." She sighed, "All those moments you had, and you never seized one of them until now. And now you have."

"Exactly." Brennan choked, "I wasted thousands of chances and now I finally gave myself up to this… this feeling inside me… now it's over before it's even started."

Angela hugged her tightly, but she knew there was nothing she could do for her now. The surgeons operating on Booth had not only one life, but two in their hands. Because Angela knew that without Booth, Brennan might as well be dead.

"Dr Brennan?" came the sound of a voice. The voice of one of the surgical interns.

**I hope you like. Sorry for the long wait. And at last, Bones is back! Weren't B&B just adorable at the end with the whole thing with Brennan's coffee? That's why we love them.**

**xgreyslostwhox**


	8. Whatever Tomorrow Brings

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**Whatever tomorrow brings**

_He opened his eyes slowly and looked around. He was in a white room, surrounded by strange machines making bizarre beeping noises. There were about fifty tubes in his arms, hooked up to the machines. And there was a bright light coming from the doorway. A light so bright he could hardly see anything. And then the room had faded and all he could see was a bright white light…_

"_Am I dead?" he asked, to no one in particular. "Because if I am dead, that would really suck. Really."_

_He thought he heard a laugh but he couldn't be sure. So he spoke again. "Where the hell am I? Seriously?"_

_Again, a little laugh, that was half familiar, half unusual. And suddenly something came into focus. He couldn't move, or feel any part of his body. He could just see. A woman standing over him, tears blurring her stormy grey eyes. He wanted to smile, but nothing could move. He tried to speak, but nothing would come out. She turned her head away for a second, and then right back. Her mouth was moving, talking, and she had that little frown on her face she had when she was arguing. If he listened really closely, he could hear people talking. And then her voice, loud and clear._

"_Goodbye, Booth." She said, her voice low and trembling. "I love you."_

_And then she bent down and kissed his mouth lightly. He felt only a slight tingle as their lips made contact. And then she was gone. _

_And he gave in to the blackness. _

She traced a finger over his jaw, and another across his lips. And her other hand ran through his hair. She wanted to say something but there was nothing to say. And then she heard him speak, and his lips moved.

"Am I dead?" he asked, "Because if I am dead, that would really suck. Really."

She laughed lightly. His eyes were still closed with drugged sleep, but he was murmuring away to himself.

"Where the hell am I? Seriously?" he muttered, and she laughed again, surprised that she could still laugh after everything that had happened. Then she heard a voice behind her.

"Dr Brennan, you need to leave now."

"I'm not going until he wakes up." She said to the intern on the door. "You can think again."

"I need to ask you to leave, Dr Brennan. We need to up the sedation medication so that he can heal better."

"He was talking a moment ago. He's nearly awake."

"Which is not good at this point. We need him to sleep to heal."

"I want to talk to your boss."

The intern sighed. Then someone appeared in the doorway. Angela. Brennan took one look at her and then turned her eyes back to Booth.

"Sweetie, you should come with me so that they can do their job."

"I want to stay with him."

"You can come back tomorrow morning, Dr Brennan."

"Bren, please. He needs to get better right now." Angela begged. Eventually, Brennan realised she had run out of arguing for one day.

"All right. Goodbye, Booth. I love you." And she bent down and kissed him on the lips. Then she walked out with Angela, trembling slightly.

She slept lightly, and by 7 o'clock she was back in the hospital, waiting outside Booth's room to be allowed in. She sat on a cold, hard chair, and leant back against the wall, closing her eyes and trying to clear her mind of though for a moment.

"Auntie Temperance!" she heard a little voice call, and she opened her eyes to see Parker and Rebecca walking towards her, Parker now running full pelt, and launching himself into her arms. She hugged him tightly, and some of her tears fell unnoticed into his fair hair.

"Be careful, Parker." Rebecca said, "Dr Brennan might still be hurt."

"I'm fine." Brennan said, and looked at Rebecca. The two of them eyed each other warily, always unsure what to say to one another.

"Is he ok?" Rebecca asked weakly.

"Yeah. He's gonna be all right now. I'm just waiting out here to be allowed in. He hasn't woken up yet, though."

"Will they let Parker in to see him?"

"Sure."

Rebecca looked like she had something else to say.

"Do you think Parker could wait and see him with you? Would that be ok? It's just that I have a business meeting to go to, and I think when he wakes up he would rather it was just you two."

"Yes! Please, Auntie Temperance!" Parker said, "I want to see Daddy!"

"Sure." Brennan said, and then looked pointedly at Parker. "What does he know?"

"That Daddy got hurt by the bad men and that he had to have an operation and now he's sleeping because he's tired. But he'll wake up soon."

"Right." Brennan nodded. "When will you be back?"

"This afternoon – does four sound ok?"

"Yeah. Maybe me and you could get lunch, eh, Parker?" she said to him, suddenly realising how endeared to the little boy she had become. Something to do with being held hostage with him, she supposed.

"Right. Bye, Parker. Thank you, Dr Brennan."

Brennan smiled and waved with Parker as Rebecca left. Then they went through into Booth's room. Parker didn't seem phased by the fact that Booth was laid very still and hooked up to various machines. He played with his toy trains for a while, and Brennan just held Booth's hand and watched him, a smile on her face.

"You could talk to Daddy if you want." Brennan said.

"Don't be silly, Auntie Temperance. He can't hear me when he's asleep."

She couldn't bring herself to say anymore. They sat in silence for a while.

"Auntie Temperance, when Daddy rescued us and I ran out, he gave me a hug, and then he said, _Is Bones OK? _Why does he call you that?"

She smiled. "It's a nickname. I never used to like it but I do now. Anyway, you can call me Bones too if you want to."

He smiled broadly, and she realised that it was the same smile Booth had that set her heart racing. "Can I call you Auntie Bones?"

Brennan laughed. "Of course."

Parker sat, chewing his lip, drawing something on his piece of paper. When he was finished he held it up to her.

"Look, Auntie Bones! It's you and me and Daddy!"

He'd drawn Brennan and Booth holding hands, and Parker holding her hand, with an ice cream in his hand.

"You like ice cream?" she said.

"Yes. Cookies and cream is my favourite."

"Really? Raspberry is my favourite." She said, smiling.

"Just like Daddy. He likes raspberry best too."

There was another silence. "Hey – Parker?"

"Yeah?"

"I found out the ending to that story."

"What story?"

"The one about the soldier and the princess?"

"What happened?"

"The princess had always loved the soldier, but she was too shy and stupid to tell him. And then one day she got captured by an evil dragon and she thought that she was going to die. But then the soldier came to rescue her, and when he did, she told him she loved him too. They thought it was happily ever after, but then the soldier got hurt by the evil dragon. And she thought he was going to die, and she was so sad she wept an ocean-full of tears. And then he miraculously woke up and-"

"What's miraculously?"

"Something believed to have a supernatural or divine cause-" she looked at his blank face. "Something good."

"OK."

"And the princess and the soldier confessed their undying love for each other and they started dating. And then they got married and they lived in a little house together and they had lots of little princesses and soldiers and there was always a place in their house for the soldier's little son too. And they worked together for ever and they stayed in love forever and they grew old together and neither of them could ever have been any happier."

"That's good. I'll tell Daddy when he wakes up."

"Daddy already heard." Came a voice from Booth's bed.

"Daddy!" Parker squealed and rushed over to his side, kissing him and hugging him.

"Be gentle, Parker. Daddy's just had an operation." Booth said, grimacing in pain. He held his son tightly to him, Parker's face buried in his neck, and his eyes sought out Brennan. She smiled at him, her face flushing at what he had just heard. He raised one hand and beckoned to her. She walked over to his side in three paces, and silently knelt down beside his bed, so her face was level with his.

"I love you." He whispered, because there was nothing else to say, and then she brought her lips to his, so that their mouths were together again, and nothing could have pulled them apart. She snaked her hand around his neck and slowly stood up, sliding onto the bed beside him, curling up, her limbs around him, not breaking the kiss.

"Yuck." Parker said pointedly, and they drew apart, laughing. The little boy rolled his eyes at them and jumped down onto the floor, returning to his colouring, which just made Brennan laugh and Booth attempt to, before grimacing in pain.

"I need to get the nurse." Brennan said, "She needs to check on you."

He pulled her face back to his and kissed her again and again.

"I don't want to see the nurse."

"I don't want you to either… Booth…" she murmured as his tongue slid inside her mouth.

"I'm glad I didn't die."

"Me too." Brennan said, stroking his face with her pale hand.

"Because if I died I wouldn't have been able to do that." He said, and kissed her again. She smiled.

"I need to get the nurse, Booth, and then I promised I'd take Parker out for lunch. But we'll be back afterwards and then when he's gone home you can do that as much as you like."

"Good." He murmured, and kissed her one more time. "Now go, before you drive me insane."

She walked out of the hospital, holding Parker's hand, a sunshiny smile on her face.


	9. Hard To Believe How Perfect

**HOSTAGE**

**Booth leaves Brennan to protect her, but his enemy manages to get to her anyway. Can Booth get there in time to save her, and will he have to make a choice so hard it will break him?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bones! Wow I bet you're all falling off your chairs in shock!**

**Hard To Believe How Perfect**

Parker chose to get a hot dog at the diner, and Brennan ordered pancakes. When the pancakes arrived Parker looked at them with such longing that Brennan laughed.

"Do you want to swap?" she asked, "Or go half and half?"

His eyes lit up. "Mommy doesn't usually let me have two things to eat!" he said, and Brennan put one of her pancakes on his plate, and he broke off half the hot dog for her. They ate hungrily and happily, Parker telling Brennan about school and his friend Ben, and a girl in his class called Georgina who he wanted to be his girlfriend. She smiled at his childish innocence and remembered half heartedly playing games in the school playground with a girl called Beth, and wanting to marry a boy called Mikey the whole time she was in kindergarten.

"Are you going to marry my Daddy?"

She was taken aback by the question, but she was an honest person, and so she looked him in the eye.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, Ben's Mommy had a boyfriend and they used to kiss like you and Daddy and then they got married."

"Oh. Would you like me to marry your Daddy?"

"I don't think so." Parker said solemnly. Brennan's heart caught. God, look at her. She didn't believe in marriage, and here she was, wishing that Booth's son would agree to it.

"Oh."

"It's just because I'd miss Daddy."

"What?"

"Well, Ben's Mommy and the boyfriend went to live in another country and Ben has to live with his Daddy now. I don't want Daddy to live in a different country."

"Daddy wouldn't have to, Parker. He would live near you and see you just as much, maybe more, but sometimes with me there too."

"Oh." For a moment he said nothing else. Then, "Then I would like it, Auntie Bones. I would like it lots."

Brennan smiled, and for a while they went back to eating their hot dogs and pancakes.

"You didn't answer my question." Parker said.

Brennan feigned innocence. "What question?"

"Are you and Daddy going to get married?"

"I'd like to, Parker." She said simply, and he grinned. "But I don't know. Maybe sometime. If your Daddy wants to as well."

"He does." Parker said with confidence, "You're just like the soldier and the princess really."

He looked immensely proud of himself for working that out. Brennan smiled wider. She was doing a lot of smiling lately.

"Would you have other children like the princess and the soldier?"

"Maybe one day."

"Do you want to?"

_All of a sudden, more than anything. _"I think so."

"Would Daddy still love me as much?"

"Of course he would."

"Would I have to call you Mommy?"

"No. You could call me whatever you wanted."

"Could I call you Auntie Bones?"

"Sure." She said, and laughed, ruffling his hair. Everything was perfect.

"I think you'd better ask Daddy to marry you soon."

"Why?" Brennan asked, amused.

"Because Ben's Mommy's boyfriend was old and had grey hair and a bit fat and Ben's Daddy said it was because he'd never been married before. If you don't hurry, Daddy might turn out the same."

"I don't think he will, Parker. Not for a while yet."

"Oh. Well, I think you should ask him today."

Brennan spluttered. "You do?"

"Uh huh."

"Don't you think it's a bit early?"

"No. You love Daddy and Daddy loves you. You might as well get on with it."

Brennan didn't stop laughing all the way to the hospital.

Parker burst into Booth's room, shouting, "Auntie Bones is gonna ask you to marry her!"

Booth froze. Brennan froze in the doorway. Booth's eyes locked with hers. "Bones?" he said.

She couldn't make any words form. She walked forwards shakily and sat on the edge of his bed. He took her hand.

"I…I…"

He seemed to understand.

"I won't kneel, Bones, because I can't, but I want to ask you something. Temperance Brennan, I love you. I have loved you forever, and I will love you until I die. Will you marry me?"

There were tears in her eyes as she kissed him gently. "Yes. God help me, yes. Yes I will."

And then they kissed – hard and passionate.

When they broke apart, Parker patted Brennan on the arm,

"Never mind, Auntie Bones. He got there first."

Booth and Brennan burst out laughing.

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The night after Booth was discharged from the hospital, he wanted to drive home but Brennan was having none of it. And she revelled in the fact that she was driving all the way to her apartment.

"Uh – Bones? I don't live here." He said. And then he considered, "I don't really live anywhere anymore."

"No, but I do. And since I had a temporary lapse in judgement and agreed to marry you, I think you should move in."

"A temporary lapse in judgement, eh?"

"OK, a long lapse in judgement that I haven't finished having yet." She climbed out of the car as he did, and they walked to her front door.

"And I don't think I'll ever stop having it." She whispered, and kissed him.

"The world is ending." He whispered, as she fiddled with the key in her lock. "Temperance Brennan is getting married."

"Uh huh." She said, and they fell into the apartment, kissing wildly. They shed their clothes quickly and purposefully, and wound up in Brennan's bed, bodies entwined, hearts overflowing with love.

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They lay awake in the morning, arms around each other, heads close. Sunlight illuminated her face, and Booth couldn't help but smile at how beautiful she was, even still bruised from the time she had spent as Stephanski's hostage.

"You're beautiful." He whispered, and to his surprise her eyes filled with tears.

"What?" he murmured.

"No one's ever told me that before." She said, and he held onto her tightly.

"I am going to tell you that every day for the rest of your life, Temperance Brennan." He said, and smiled. "You're beautiful, Bones."

"When we're married, are you still going to call me Bones?" she asked, "I don't mind, but I just wondered."

"Probably. At least some of the time anyway. Are you still going to call me Booth?"

"Maybe. Seeley."

He kissed her softly.

"Listen to us." She said. "When we're married. I never thought I'd say that."

He shook his head. "Me neither. Not with you, anyway. I thought I'd always have to settle for being your partner. Though I did have my suspicions."

"What?"

"Everything happens eventually. You just have to be ready for it."

She knew instantly what he meant. "That day at the harbour? You were talking about this?"

"I was dreaming about this." He said, and she kissed him.

"Did you meant what you said to Parker in the story? About children?"

She took a deep breath. "Sure. One day. Booth, since I met you, I've been slowly changing. Everything I thought I knew suddenly wasn't what I knew anymore. I thought I'd never want children, but all of a sudden, looking at you – I can't think of anything I want more than to carry your child."

His eyes filled up. "And Parker loves you so much. This is gonna be great, Bones, this is gonna be forever."

"You see, that doesn't seem like such a long time anymore." She said, "That doesn't seem like long enough."

**And that's pretty much it. I might write an epilogue. Let me know what you think. Please R&R!**


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